Workscape / HCI Study Reveals Weakness in Most Companies' Performance Management Practices
Workscape's Performance Manager Aims to Remove Barriers and Improve Transparency, Accountability and Communication
| Source: Workscape
MARLBOROUGH, MA--(Marketwire - September 30, 2009) - 12th Annual HR Technology Conference,
CHICAGO -- Workscape, Inc., a leading provider of integrated HR solutions
and services, and the Human Capital Institute (HCI), a professional
association and think-tank advancing the science of strategic talent
management, today shared findings from their "2009 Talent Management
Processes & Practices" study -- a research and survey project aimed at
delivering insight into current performance management trends and
practices. Although the majority of American organizations agree on the
importance of performance management as a means to drive business success,
only 11% subscribe to the best practice of providing ongoing performance
feedback and measurement against goals. Workscape and HCI unveiled the
results of the research study during the 12th Annual HR Technology
Conference in Chicago.
Based on a survey of 690 HCI members as well as an exhaustive search of
existing materials on the topic of performance management, the study
demonstrated that performance management remains bogged down in the review
process. In fact, two-thirds (66%) of organizations admit an inability to
realign employee goals to corporate goals as they change throughout the
year. Nearly half of the surveyed organizations still wait until the annual
performance appraisal event to define and adjust employee goals.
"According to this research, despite overwhelming agreement that employee
performance management's purpose is to drive greater organizational and
individual performance, a large number of organizations (68%) equate
performance management with a function that occurs only once or twice per
year," stated Tony Marzulli, Workscape's chief marketing officer. "In order
to compete successfully in any market -- especially today's highly dynamic
environment -- companies need to be able to react swiftly to changes 365
days a year and not just during focal planning periods. With the right
technology-based system in place, an organization can support performance
and compensation decisions throughout the year -- making the business much
more effective during tough economic times."
Workscape's solutions are designed to support this holistic approach to
compensation and performance management, enabling organizations of any size
to achieve greater visibility into their compensation planning process and
drive accountability and goal alignment to line managers and individual
employees.
"In an organization of our size and structure, driving individual
accountability is challenging but it's critical to achieving our corporate
goals of growing the business and retaining our competitive edge," said
Blair Ewell, Phoenix Terminal Manager of Workscape client Swift
Transportation. "Workscape's Performance Manager delivers a framework for
instilling a degree of accountability that was previously missing during
the review and compensation planning processes."
According to the Workscape/HCI survey, only 21% of organizations use
automated performance management solutions to better align corporate and
individual goals. In addition, only a minority of organizations have
adopted a formal performance measurement methodology. The results of the
survey demonstrate that current employee performance management practices
rely too much on the performance review process and, in most organizations,
fail to provide a dynamic, ongoing means of keeping individual and
organizational goals in synch.
Marzulli continued, "The ability to quickly recognize and adapt to
fast-moving changes -- such as changes in the markets or changes in a
company's business strategy -- can drive how successful a business can be.
So many changes and variables directly affect a company's ability to drive
performance and retention through rewards structures. To be competitive,
companies must have the right information to make compensation and
performance management decisions, each and every day."
"Organizations need formal employee performance management systems in place
to raise overall organizational performance," said Carl Rhodes, HCI's Chief
Operating Officer. "In most cases, this will include technology and
well-trained front line-managers -- essential for driving the desired
results."
Addressing additional results from the survey, the Workscape/HCI report,
"Performance Management Processes and Practices, September 2009," is
available for download at www.workscape.com/performancereport.
About Workscape
Workscape is unique in its ability and demonstrated domain expertise in
addressing the talent management, benefits administration and employee
communication challenges of hundreds of organizations and millions of
workers across the country and across the globe. For the past decade,
Workscape has been delivering Web-based software and services that are
proven to help organizations reduce healthcare costs, improve adherence to
compensation budgets and ensure alignment between employee activities and
corporate goals. As a result, our employee-centric approach has
consistently helped organizations to achieve the highest return on their
greatest workforce expenditures: healthcare benefits and employee
compensation. For more information about Workscape, visit www.workscape.com
or call 888-605-9620.